Method and apparatus for manufacturing continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet includes a roving package constituted by a cylindrical package of a reinforcing fiber bundle, a reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device, an impregnation die, a withdrawing device disposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die, and a cutter member. The reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device includes a plurality of collapse suppressing members adapted to be pushed radially outwards against an inner periphery surface of the roving package to suppress collapse of winding layers and a pusher for displacing said plural collapse suppressing members radially outwards following the inner periphery surface of the roving package which inner periphery surface shifts radially outwards gradually as the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out in a successive manner.

The present application is a Divisional application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/678,762, filed on Mar. 18, 2010, which is anational stage application of PCT application PCT/JP08/066970, filed onSep. 19, 2008, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanesepatent applications 2007-258945 filed on Oct. 2, 2007, 2007-279195 filedon Oct. 26, 2007 and 2008-043221 filed on Feb. 25, 2008.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus formanufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pelletwith use of a reinforcing fiber bundle which is drawn out continuouslyfrom a roving package.

BACKGROUND ART

A continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet (hereinafterreferred to also simply as “continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet”)is used as a raw material in injection molding.

In manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet there isused a roving package comprising windings of a reinforcing fiber bundle(roving) of a large number of reinforcing filaments. More particularly,a reinforcing fiber bundle drawn out from a roving package is introducedcontinuously into an impregnation die and is impregnated with moltenthermoplastic resin, further, a continuous fiber-reinforced resin strandwithdrawn continuously from the impregnation die is cut into apredetermined length, whereby a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pelletis manufactured.

Thus, for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet it isnecessary to draw out a reinforcing fiber bundle (continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand) continuously, so if there occurs atrouble in the drawing-out operation, it is no longer possible tomanufacture a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet in an efficientmanner.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished for solving theabove-mentioned problem and it is an object of the invention to providea method and apparatus for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet which method and apparatus permit smoothexecution of an operation of continuously drawing out a reinforcingfiber bundle (continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand).

For achieving the above-mentioned object, a first invention provides amethod for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet, comprising the steps of drawing out a reinforcing fiberbundle of a large number of reinforcing filaments continuously from aroving package, introducing the reinforcing fiber bundle thus drawn outfrom the roving package into an impregnation die continuously,impregnating the thus-introduced reinforcing fiber bundle with moltenthermoplastic resin to produce a resin-impregnated reinforcing fiberbundle, twisting the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle that ispassing continuously through the impregnation die by a twisting devicedisposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die to produce acontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand, and cutting the continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand to produce a pellet while withdrawing thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand continuously, wherein the stepof drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuously from the rovingpackage includes an operation of splicing the reinforcing fiber bundlefed from a roving package being exhausted and the reinforcing fiberbundle fed from a new roving package with each other, the reinforcingfiber bundle splicing operation being carried out in such a manner that,with respect to each of a terminal end portion of the reinforcing fiberbundle from the roving package being exhausted and a start end portionof the reinforcing fiber bundle from the new roving package, a part in asectional direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of thereinforcing fiber bundle concerned is removed over a predetermined rangein the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing fiber bundle to form afiber quantity-halved end portion where the quantity of fibers in thesection of the reinforcing fiber bundle is about half of the originalfiber quantity, further, the reinforcing filaments in the fiberquantity-halved end portion of the roving package being exhausted andthe reinforcing filaments in the fiber quantity-halved end portion ofthe new roving package are entangled with each other at one or morepositions in their longitudinal direction by means of an air splicer,and in a fiber quantity unreduced end portion which is an upstreamportion relative to the fiber quantity-halved end portion in thereinforcing fiber bundle of the new roving package and in which the partin the sectional direction remains unremoved, the reinforcing filamentsare entangled with each other at one or more positions in theirlongitudinal direction by means of an air splicer.

A second invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising a roving packageconstituted by a cylindrical package of a reinforcing fiber bundle, areinforcing fiber bundle delivery device for drawing out the reinforcingfiber bundle in a successive manner from an inner periphery side of theroving package, an impregnation die for impregnating the reinforcingfiber bundle with molten thermoplastic resin to produce aresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, the reinforcing fiber bundlebeing introduced into the impregnation die after being drawn outcontinuously from the roving package by the reinforcing fiber bundledelivery device, a withdrawing device disposed on a downstream side ofthe impregnation die to withdraw a continuous fiber-reinforced resinstrand of the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle continuouslyfrom the impregnation die, and a cutter member for cutting thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand, wherein the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device includes a plurality of collapse suppressingmembers adapted to be pushed radially outwards against an innerperiphery surface of the roving package to suppress collapse of windinglayers and pushing means for displacing the plural collapse suppressingmembers radially outwards following the inner periphery surface of theroving package which inner periphery surface shifts radially outwardsgradually as the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out in a successivemanner.

A third invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising a plurality ofroving packages each constituted by a cylindrical package of areinforcing fiber bundle, a reinforcing fiber bundle delivery deviceconfigured to deliver the reinforcing fiber bundle in a successivemanner from each of the roving packages without causing rotation of eachof the roving packages, a terminal end of the reinforcing fiber bundlein one roving package and a front end of the reinforcing fiber bundle inanother roving package which reinforcing fiber bundle is to be nexttaken out being connected with each other in series, an impregnation diefor impregnating the reinforcing fiber bundle with molten thermoplasticresin to produce a resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, thereinforcing fiber bundle being introduced into the impregnation dieafter being drawn out continuously from the roving packages by thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device, a withdrawing device disposedon a downstream side of the impregnation die to withdraw a continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand of the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiberbundle continuously from the impregnation die, and a cutter member forcutting the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand, wherein thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device includes a core guide forholding each of the roving packages in a stand-up attitude with the axisof each roving packages facing in a vertical direction and a reinforcingfiber bundle take-out guide disposed above the roving packages andadapted to support an intermediate portion of the reinforcing fiberbundle being conducted from the roving package to the impregnation die,and wherein if in a plan view a point of intersection between anextension line of a straight line, the straight line connecting thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide and an axial point of the rovingpackage, and an outer circumference of the roving package is assumed tobe a remotest point, then in a front view as seen in a directionorthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial point and theremotest point, each of the roving packages and the reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide are disposed in such a manner that a take-outangle between a reinforcing fiber bundle pass line extending from theremotest point to the reinforcing fiber take-out guide and an axis ofthe roving package concerned is always not larger than 45° irrespectiveof the diameter of the outer circumference of the roving package.

According to the present invention it is possible to smoothly carry outan operation of continuously drawing out a reinforcing fiber bundle(continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatus forcarrying out a manufacturing method related to the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view for explaining twisting rollers shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining a twisting angle of the twistingrollers shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for splicingreinforcing fiber bundles with each other in connection with themanufacturing method related to the first invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an entire configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatusaccording to an embodiment (second embodiment) related to the secondinvention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a base plate in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the configuration of a principal portionof the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the manner in which a reinforcingfiber bundle is drawn out from a roving package in the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing an anti-floating metallic piece inFIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a sectional side view showing the configuration of a fiberbundle package.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an entire configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatusaccording to an embodiment (third embodiment) related to the thirdinvention.

FIG. 13 is a front view showing an entire configuration of a reinforcingfiber bundle delivery device related to the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing a principal portion of thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shown in FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a plan view for explaining a take-out angle θ2 in thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shown in FIG. 13, showing apositional relation between two roving packages and a reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide.

FIG. 16 is a front view of the roving packages in FIG. 15 each as seenin an arrow XVI direction.

FIG. 17 is an another diagram for explaining a take-out angle in thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to the third invention,and also a plan view showing a layout position relation between tworoving packages and the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide.

FIG. 18 is a front view of the roving packages in FIG. 17 each as seenin an arrow XVIII direction.

FIG. 19 is a front view showing another entire configuration of areinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to the third invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing a continuous fiber-reinforcedresin pellet obtained by a pultruding method involving twisting.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing a continuous fiber-reinforcedresin pellet obtained by a pultruding method not involving twisting.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram for explaining a second related art.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below whilemaking reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodimentsare embodied examples of the present invention, not limiting thetechnical scope of the invention.

(First Embodiment)

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatus forcarrying out a manufacturing method related to the first invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, plural (three in the example of FIG. 1) reinforcingfiber bundles 2 drawn out from roving packages 1 are arranged and thenconducted to a pre-heat heating device 5 provided with a pair of heatingrollers 6A and 6B. In a heated state by the pre-heat heating device 5the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 are conducted into an impregnation die7. Molten resin (molten thermoplastic resin) 3 is supplied into theimpregnation die 7 continuously from an extruding machine 10 which has abuilt-in screw 11. In the interior of the impregnation die 7 aredisposed plural impregnation rollers 9 for impregnating the reinforcingfiber bundles 2 with the molten resin 3. A die nozzle 8 is attached toan exit of the impregnation die 7. The die nozzle 8 defines the diameterof a continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 of a circular sectionformed by twisted, resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles.

The molten resin is impregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundles 2passing through the impregnation die 7, affording resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundles. Twisting rollers 13A and 13B as a twistingdevice disposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die 7 areadapted to twist the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles. Thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 formed by the twisted,resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles is withdrawn continuouslyfrom the impregnation die 7 by the twisting rollers 13A and 13B.

The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 of a high temperaturedrawn out from the die nozzle 8 in the impregnation die 7 is cooled andhardened in a cooling water bath 12 and is conducted to the twistingrollers 13A and 13B. The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4conducted to a downstream side of the twisting rollers 13A and 13B iscut into a predetermined length by a pelletizer 14, affording acontinuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet.

FIG. 2 is a side view for explaining the twisting rollers shown inFIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining a twisting angle of thetwisting rollers shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, rotational axes of the pair of twisting rollers 13Aand 13B are positioned on parallel planes (horizontal planes)respectively so as to cross each other in a plan view as seen in adirection orthogonal to the planes. In this state the twisting rollers13A and 13B are disposed in opposition to each other so as to sandwichtherebetween the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 fed from theupstream side. That is, in a plan view, the rotational axis of thetwisting roller 13A as an upper roller in FIG. 2 and that of thetwisting roller 13B as a lower roller in the same figure are shifted indirections opposite to each other with respect to the withdrawingdirection of the continuous fiber-reinforced resin stand 4 and by thesame predetermined angle (a twisting angle θ1, see FIG. 3).

As shown in FIG. 3, the twisting angle θ1 of the twisting roller 13A isan angle between a line orthogonal to the rotational axis, a, of thetwisting roller 13A and the withdrawing direction of the continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand 4 in plan view. The twisting angle of thelower twisting roller 13B is the same as the twisting angle θ1 of theupper twisting roller 13A.

As methods for drawing out (delivering) the reinforcing fiber bundlefrom each roving package there are an outside withdrawing method and aninside withdrawing method. In the outside withdrawing method, thereinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out from the outer periphery side ofthe roving package under rotation of the roving package. On the otherhand, in the inside withdrawing method, the reinforcing fiber bundle isdrawn out from the inner periphery side of the roving package in a statein which the roving package is placed on a certain thing. There is alsoa method wherein the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out from theouter periphery side of the roving package in a state in which theroving package is placed on a certain thing. In the manufacturingapparatus shown in FIG. 1, each roving package 1 is formed by windingthe reinforcing fiber bundle in the shape of a coreless cylinder, andthere is adopted the inside withdrawing method wherein the reinforcingfiber bundle 2 is drawn out from the inner periphery side of the rovingpackage 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for splicingreinforcing fiber bundles with each other in connection with themanufacturing method related to the first invention.

The manufacturing method related to this embodiment is for splicing areinforcing fiber bundle A of a roving package being exhausted and areinforcing fiber bundle B of a new roving package with each other. Morespecifically, over a predetermined range in the longitudinal directionof a terminal end portion of the reinforcing fiber bundle A located onthe side being exhausted, a portion in the thickness directionorthogonal to the longitudinal direction is cut off with scissors or thelike to form a fiber quantity-halved end portion A1 having a fiberquantity about half of the original quantity. Likewise, over apredetermined range in the longitudinal direction of a start end portionof the new-side reinforcing fiber bundle B, a portion in the thicknessdirection orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is cut off withscissors or the like to form a fiber quantity-halved end portion B1having a fiber quantity half of the original quantity. The length ofeach of the fiber quantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 is in the rangeof about 50 to 150 mm. In the case of reinforcing fibers of the typeeasy to get entangled, the length of each of the fiber quantity-halvedend portions A1 and B1 is about 50 mm, while in the case of reinforcingfibers of the type difficult to get entangled, the length in question isabout 100 to 150 mm.

Next, both fiber quantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 are joined so asto be superimposed one on the other and are entangled at one or morepositions in their longitudinal direction by an air splicer to form anentangled portion C1. In the example of FIG. 4, entangled portions C1are formed at two positions. Therefore, the fiber quantity in eachentangled portion C1 is approximately the same as the fiber quantity(the original fiber quantity) of each of the reinforcing fiber bundles Aand B and hence the thickness of the spliced portion formed by bothfiber quantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 can be made approximatelythe same as the thickness of each of the reinforcing fiber bundles A andB.

Further, in a fiber quantity unreduced end portion B2 which portion (aportion located upstream of the fiber quantity-halved end portion B1) iscontinuous with the new-side fiber quantity-halved end portion B1 andwhich is equal in thickness to the original reinforcing fiber bundleportion not reduced in the quantity of fibers, reinforcing filaments areentangled at one or more positions in the longitudinal direction bymeans of an air splicer to form an entangled portion C2. In the exampleof FIG. 4, entangled portions C2 are formed at two positions. By formingthe entangled portions C2 it is possible to prevent the reinforcingfibers in the fiber quantity unreduced end portion B2 from beingdisjoined with consequent breaking of the spliced portion while thereinforcing fiber bundle is being conducted into the impregnation die.Besides, the thickness of each entangled portion C2 is approximatelyequal to the thickness of each of the reinforcing fiber bundles A and B.The fiber quantity unreduced end portion A2 continuous with the fiberquantity-halved end portion A1 located on the side being exhausted iswithdrawn from the impregnation die while being twisted and thereforedoes not clog the die nozzle even if it is pulled from the downstreamside. Thus, it is not necessary to form an entangled portion in thefiber quantity unreduced end portion A2. After forming the entangledportions by the air splicer, reinforcing fiber portions (indicated at Xand Y in FIG. 4) of the new-side reinforcing fiber bundle B, whichportions are positioned on the front end side with respect to theentangled portions C1 and are apt to be disjoined, are cut off withscissors or the like lest they should be caught in the die nozzle.Instead of cutting off, the reinforcing fiber portions X and Y apt to bedisjoined may be fixed using an adhesive of the same kind of resin asthe thermoplastic resin which is impregnated into the reinforcing fiberbundles A and B.

Thus, by forming the entangled portions C1 and C2 with the air splicer,the reinforcing fiber bundle A on the side being exhausted and thereinforcing fiber bundle B on the new side can be spliced with eachother in such a manner that the thickness of the spliced portion becomesalmost equal to the thickness of each of the reinforcing fiber bundles Aand B. Consequently, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of atrouble that the spliced portion is caught in the die nozzle andclogging the same nozzle. Accordingly, the spliced portion can beallowed to pass through the die nozzle while suppressing the occurrenceof breaking of each reinforcing fiber bundle. As a result, it ispossible to improve the manufacturing speed.

In the above method, the entangled portions C2 are formed in the fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2 of the new-side reinforcing fiberbundle B. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the occurrence ofdisjoining in the fiber quantity unreduced end portion B2 and breakingof the spliced portion while the spliced portion is being conducted tothe impregnation die through a pass line having bends. Thus, the splicedportion can be allowed to pass through the die nozzle without givingrise to the situation that the new-side reinforcing fiber bundle B doesnot reach the impregnation die. As a result, it is possible to improvethe manufacturing speed.

Moreover, by adopting the pultruding method involving twisting asdescribed above, the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle is drawnout from the die nozzle while being twisted. Therefore, fluffs whichoccur when the spliced portion passes through the die nozzle can bedrawn out from the die nozzle. Thus, after passing of the splicedportion through the die nozzle, it is possible to avoid the occurrenceof a state that the production is compelled to be stopped due toclogging of the die nozzle with fluffs.

In splicing reinforcing fiber bundles by the method described above, anadhesive of the same resin as the thermoplastic resin to be impregnatedinto the reinforcing fiber bundles A and B may be applied to theentangled portions C1 and C2. By doing so, the reinforcing fiber bundlesA and B can be spliced together in a more positive manner and hence thespliced portion can be allowed to pass through the die nozzle whilesuppressing the occurrence of breaking of the reinforcing fiber bundles.As a result, the manufacturing speed can be further improved.

Next, a description will now be given about examples related to theabove first embodiment. Using reinforcing fiber bundles each formed witha spliced portion, there was conducted an experiment for manufacturingcontinuous fiber-reinforced resin pellets by the manufacturing apparatusshown in FIG. 1. A method for splicing reinforcing fiber bundles wasevaluated in this experiment. Glass fiber bundles were used as thereinforcing fiber bundles. The configuration of each glass fiber bundleis as follows: glass fiber dia. (filament dia.) 17 μm, weight 2400 g/km.

EXAMPLE 1

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 3 bundles, manufacturing speed (withdrawing speed): 80m/min, thermoplastic resin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%,twisting angle θ1 (see FIG. 3) of each twisting roller: 17.5°. Thelength of each of the fiber quantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 wasset at about 150 mm. Four entangled portions were formed in the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1. As to the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2 there was formed one entangledportion. This experiment using the three glass fiber bundles wasconducted ten times. In each run, splicing was performed for one of thethree glass fiber bundles by the method described above.

As a result, in each of all the ten runs, the spliced portion passedthrough the die nozzle. Fluffs which occurred during passage of thespliced portion through the die nozzle were drawn out while beingtwisted from the die nozzle. Thus, even after passage of the splicedportion through the die nozzle, the manufacture of continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellets could be performed continuously in asatisfactory manner.

EXAMPLE 2

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 3 bundles, manufacturing speed (withdrawing speed): 80m/min, thermoplastic resin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%,twisting angle θ1 of each twisting roller: 17.5°. The length of each ofthe fiber quantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150mm. Four entangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved endportions A1 and B1. As to the new-side fiber quantity unreduced endportion B2 there was formed one entangled portion. Further, liquidpolypropylene resin as an adhesive was applied as a thin film to each ofthe four entangled portions and was cured. This experiment using thethree glass fiber bundles was repeated ten times. In each run, splicingwas performed for one of the three glass fiber bundles by the methoddescribed above.

As a result, as is the case with Example 1, the spliced portion passedthrough the die nozzle in each of all the ten runs. Even after passageof the spliced portion through the die nozzle, the manufacture ofcontinuous fiber-reinforced resin pellets could be performedcontinuously in a satisfactory manner.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 3 bundles, manufacturing speed: 5 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 17.5°. End portions of glass fiber bundles to bespliced together were entangled by an air splicer while keeping eachthickness intact. This experiment using the three glass fiber bundleswas conducted four times. In each run, splicing was performed for one ofthe three glass fiber bundles by the method described above.

As a result, the spliced portion passed through the die nozzle in eachof two runs out of the four runs. Breaking occurred in the remaining tworuns. Even when the spliced portion passed through the die nozzle, thedie nozzle was clogged with a large amount of fluffs, with the result inthat also in the two former runs it was impossible to continue themanufacture after passage of the spliced portion through the die nozzle.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 3 bundles, manufacturing speed: 80 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 17.5°. The length of each of the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150 mm. Fourentangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved end portionsA1 and B1. No entangled portion was formed in the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2. This experiment using the three glassfiber bundles was performed three times. In each run, splicing wasperformed for one of the three glass fiber bundles by the methoddescribed above.

As a result, in each of the three runs, there occurred disjoining in thenew-side fiber quantity unreduced end portion B2 with breaking of thespliced portion while the spliced portion was being conducted to theimpregnation die through the pass line.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 3

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundle: 1 bundle, manufacturing speed: 10 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 30%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 0° (twist-free). The length of each of the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150 mm. Fourentangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved end portionsA1 and B1. One entangled portion was formed in the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2. This experiment using the one glassfiber bundle was conducted three times. In each run, splicing wasperformed for the glass fiber bundle by the method described above.

As a result, in each of the three runs, the spliced portion passedthrough the die nozzle. However, the die nozzle was clogged with a largeamount of fluffs, and in each of the three runs it was impossible tocontinue the manufacture after passage of the spliced portion throughthe die nozzle.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 4

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundle: 1 bundle, manufacturing speed: 10 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 30%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 0° (twist-free). The length of each of the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150 mm. Fourentangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved end portionsA1 and B1. No entangled portion was formed in the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2. This experiment using the one glassfiber bundle was conducted three times. In each run, splicing wasperformed for the glass fiber bundle by the method described above.

As a result, in each of the three runs, there occurred disjoining in thenew-side fiber quantity unreduced end portion B2 with breaking of thespliced portion while the spliced portion was being conducted to theimpregnation die through the pass line.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 5

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 2 bundles, manufacturing speed: 5 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 50%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 0° (twist-free). The length of each of the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150 mm. Fourentangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved end portionsA1 and B1. One entangled portion was formed in the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2. In each run, splicing was performedfor one of the two glass fiber bundles by the method described above.This experiment using the two glass fiber bundles was conducted threetimes.

As a result, in each of the three runs, the spliced portion passedthrough the die nozzle. However, the die nozzle was clogged with a largeamount of fluffs, and in each of the three runs it was impossible tocontinue manufacture after passage of the spliced portion through thedie nozzle.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 6

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Glassfiber bundles: 3 bundles, manufacturing speed: 5 m/min, thermoplasticresin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%, twisting angle θ1 ofeach twisting roller: 0° (twist-free). The length of each of the fiberquantity-halved end portions A1 and B1 was set at about 150 mm. Fourentangled portions were formed in the fiber quantity-halved end portionsA1 and B1. One entangled portion was formed in the new-side fiberquantity unreduced end portion B2. This experiment using the three glassfiber bundles was conducted three times. In each run, splicing wasperformed for one of the three glass fiber bundles.

As a result, in each of the three runs, the spliced portion passedthrough the die nozzle. However, the die nozzle was clogged with a largeamount of fluffs, and in each of the three runs it was impossible tocontinue the manufacture after passage of the spliced portion throughthe die nozzle.

(Second Embodiment)

A second embodiment related to the second invention will now bedescribed while making reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 5 isa diagram showing an entire configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatusrelated to the second embodiment.

In FIG. 5, the numeral 30 denotes a reinforcing fiber bundle deliverydevice. A reinforcing fiber bundle 2 is drawn out in a successive mannerfrom the inner periphery side of a roving package 21 of a fiber bundlepackage 20 loaded on the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 30.

As shown in FIG. 5, plural (three in the example of FIG. 1) reinforcingfiber bundles 2 drawn out from the roving packages 21 of the fiberbundle packages 20 are arranged and conducted to a pre-heat heatingdevice 5 provided with a pair of heating rollers 6A and 6B. After heatedby the pre-heat heating device 5, the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 areconducted into an impregnation die 7. Molten resin (molten thermoplasticresin) 3 is fed into the impregnation die 7 continuously from anextruding machine 10 having a built-in screw 11. In the interior of theimpregnation die 7 are disposed plural impregnation rollers 9 forimpregnating the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 with the molten resin 3. Adie nozzle 8 is attached to an exit of the impregnation die 7. The dienozzle 8 defines the diameter of a continuous fiber-reinforced resinstrand 4 of a circular section formed by twisted, resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundles.

The molten resin 3 is impregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundles 2passing through the impregnation die 7, affording resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundles. Twisting rollers 13A and 13B disposed on adownstream side of the impregnation die 7 are adapted to twist theresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles. The twisting rollers 13Aand 13B function as a withdrawing device and a twisting device. Thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 formed by the twisted,resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles is withdrawn continuouslyfrom the impregnation die 7 by the twisting rollers 13A and 13B.

The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 of a high temperaturedrawn out from the die nozzle 8 in the impregnation die 7 is cooled andhardened in a cooling water bath 12 and is conducted to the twistingrollers 13A and 13B. The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4conducted to a downstream side of the twisting rollers 13A and 13B iscut into a predetermined length by a pelletizer 14, affording acontinuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet.

As shown in the above FIG. 2, rotational axes of the pair of twistingrollers 13A and 13B are positioned on parallel planes (horizontalplanes) respectively so as to cross each other in a plan view as seen ina direction orthogonal to the planes. In this state the twisting rollers13A and 13B are disposed in opposition to each other so as to sandwichtherebetween the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 fed from theupstream side. That is, in a plan view, the rotational axis, a, of thetwisting roller 13A as an upper roller in FIG. 2 and the rotational axisof the twisting roller 13B as a lower roller in the same figure areshifted in directions opposite to each other with respect to thewithdrawing direction of the continuous fiber-reinforced resin stand 4and by the same predetermined angle (a twisting angle θ1, see FIG. 3).

Next, a description will be given below about the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device 30.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a baseplate in FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the configuration of aprincipal portion of the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shownin FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, a heat-shrinkable film 22 of the fiber bundlepackage 20, an umbrella-like guide 35 and an anti-floating metallicpiece 36 are not shown.

In FIGS. 6 to 8, the numeral 31 denotes a disc-like base plate. Supportlegs 33 having a predetermine length and abutted against a floor surfaceare attached to the base plate 31. A support pillar 40 having an upperhub 41 and a lower hub 42 is erected vertically on the base plate 31.Numeral 34 denotes a bracket fixed at a central position of an uppersurface of the base plate 31 and supporting the support pillar 40. Thesupport pillar 40 is fixed to the bracket 34 removably. With the fiberbundle package 20 placed on the base plate 31, the axis of the fiberbundle package 20 (roving package 21) and that of the support pillar 40are both positioned substantially on one and same line.

Numeral 50 denotes a collapse suppressing rod constituted by a hollowpipe. In this embodiment a total of four collapse suppressing rods 50are disposed at positions equally dividing the circumference centered onthe support pillar 40 by an angle of 90° (see FIG. 8). The collapsesuppressing rods 50 extend throughout the overall length in the heightdirection of the roving package 21. More particularly, the collapsesuppressing rods 50 each have a length larger than the height dimensionof the roving package 21. An upper end portion of each collapsesuppressing rod 50 is bent inwards lest the reinforcing fiber bundle 2drawn out from the roving package 21 should be caught on the upper endportion. The four collapse suppressing rods 50 constitute windinglayers' collapse suppressing members which are for pushing the innerperiphery surface of the roving package 21 outwards. It is preferablethat the number of the collapse suppressing rods 50 be two or more, morepreferably 4 to 8.

Numeral 43 denotes an upper link. A base end portion of the upper link43 is supported on the upper hub 41 of the support pillar 40 pivotablythrough a pin 44 which extends in a direction orthogonal to the axis ofthe support pillar 40. On the other hand, a front end portion of theupper link 43 is supported on an upper end portion of the associatedcollapse suppressing rod 50 pivotably through a pin 45 which is parallelto the pin 44.

Numeral 46 denotes a lower link. A base end portion of the lower link 46is supported on the lower hub 42 of the support pillar 40 pivotablythrough a pin 47 which extends in a direction orthogonal to the axis ofthe support pillar 40. On the other hand, a front end portion of thelower link 46 is supported on a lower portion of the associated collapsesuppressing rod 50 pivotably through a pin 48 which is parallel to thepin 47.

That is, a parallel link mechanism is formed by the links 43, 46,support pillar 40 and collapse suppressing rods 50. In this parallellink mechanism, when the links 43 and 46 assume an attitude facing inthe direction orthogonal to the axis of the support pillar 40, eachcollapse suppressing rod 50 assumes a position equal to or more outerthan the outer periphery surface of the roving package 21. Therefore, bymounting the roving package 21 outside the support pillar 40 in anupwardly inclined state of the links 43 and 46 so that the front endsides of the links 43 and 46 are up, the own weight of each of thecollapse suppressing rods causes the same rod to follow the innerperiphery surface of the roving package 21 as the inner peripherysurface of the roving package displaces itself outwards.

In order that the four collapse suppressing rods 50 which thus followthe inner periphery surface of the roving package may not come intoabutment against the base plate 31, four elongated holes 32 are formedso as to extend vertically through the base plate 31 and extend radiallyfrom the support pillar 40. That is, lower end portions of the collapsesuppressing rods 50 move toward and away from the support pillar 40along the elongated holes 32 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) formed in the baseplate 31 in a state in which they extend through the elongated holes 32at all times.

In this embodiment the support pillar 40 and the four sets of links 43,46 constitute pushing means for pushing the four collapse suppressingrods 50 against the inner periphery surface of the roving package 21,following the inner periphery surface of the roving package 21 whosethickness becomes smaller gradually as the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 isdrawn out in a successive manner.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the reinforcingfiber bundle is drawn out from the roving package in the reinforcingfiber bundle delivery device shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 10 is a sectionalview showing an anti-floating metallic piece in FIG. 9.

In FIG. 9, the numeral 35 denotes an umbrella-like guide. Theumbrella-like guide 35 has a rod-like portion and an umbrella portion.In the umbrella-like guide 35 which is in a stand-up attitude, a lowerend of the rod-like portion is fixed to an upper end of the supportpillar 40 removably. The reinforcing fiber bundle 2 drawn out from theroving package 21 is conducted upward while contacting thecircumferential edge of the umbrella portion of the umbrella-like guide35. The size of the umbrella portion of the umbrella-like guide 35 isset so that while the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 is drawn out, thecircumferential edge of the umbrella portion is positioned radiallyoutwards with respect to upper end portions of the collapse suppressingmembers (e.g., collapse suppressing rods). The shape of the umbrellaportion of the umbrella-like guide 35 is not limited to the conicaldisc-like (umbrella-like) shape projecting upwards from the outerperiphery portion toward the central portion. It may be a disc-likeshape.

In FIGS. 9 and 10, the numeral 36 denotes an anti-floating metallicpiece. In this embodiment the anti-floating metallic piece 36 isdisposed outside the fiber bundle package 20 and has a rod-like portionextending in the height direction of the fiber bundle package 20 and ahead portion which is bent from an upper portion of the rod-like portionto hold down the peripheral edge portion of an upper surface of thefiber bundle package 20. The head portion is in C shape when seen inplan. The two anti-floating metallic pieces 36 are respectively insertedinto bosses 37 fixed to the base plate 31 and are fixed to the bosses 37with fixing bolts 38. In a certain type of a fiber bundle package 20 aheat-shrinkable film 22 is affixed to the outermost winding layer of thereinforcing fiber bundle 2. There sometimes is a case where theoutermost winding layer of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 floatstogether with the heat-shrinkable film 22. The anti-floating metallicpiece 36 is provided to prevent the occurrence of such an inconvenience.Preferably, the anti-floating metallic piece 36 is provided so that itcan hold down at least two positions in the periphery edge portion ofthe upper surface of the fiber bundle package 20 which positions do notintersect the path of movement of the collapse suppressing rods 50.

In the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 30 thus constructed, thefiber bundle package 20 is first mounted. As the fiber bundle package 20there was used one in which the heat-shrinkable film 22 had been removedbeforehand from upper and lower surfaces of the roving package 21 andthe outer periphery surface of the roving package 21 had been coatedwith the heat-shrinkable film 22. After removal of the umbrella-likeguide 35 fixed to the support pillar 40, the four collapse suppressingrods 50 are moved to positions indicated at P1 in FIG. 6. Next, thefiber bundle package 20 is brought down from above the four collapsesuppressing rods 50, and in a state in which the four collapsesuppressing rods 50 are inserted inside the fiber bundle package 20, thefiber bundle package 20 is placed on the base plate 31. In this state,the axis of the roving package 21 of the fiber bundle package 20 isaligned with the axis of the support pillar 40. The inner peripherysurface of the roving package 21 assumes a state of being pushedradially outwards by the four collapse suppressing rods 50. When themounting of the fiber bundle package 20 is thus completed, theumbrella-like guide 35 is fixed to the support pillar 40. Also, theanti-floating metallic piece 36 is mounted.

When the mounting of the fiber bundle package 20 is over, thereinforcing fiber bundle 2 is drawn out in a successive manner from theroving package 21 by the operation of the twisting rollers 13A and 13Bdescribed above. As a result, the thickness of the roving package 21gradually becomes smaller. That is, the inner periphery surface of theroving package 21 displaces itself outwards gradually. With the parallellink mechanism described above, the four collapse suppressing rods 50move following the outwards displacing inner periphery surface of theroving package 21 and is pushed against the inner periphery surfaceconstantly.

As mentioned above, the outer periphery surface of the roving package 21loaded to the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device is coated withthe heat-shrinkable film 22. The winding layers of the roving package 21after the loading are in a sandwiched state between the heat-shrinkablefilm 22 and the collapse suppressing rods 50 at four positions in thecircumferential direction in this embodiment. Thus, with the fourcollapse suppressing rods 50 pushed against the inner periphery surfaceof the roving package 21, the winding layers of the roving package 21can be supported firmly so as not to be collapsed. In the case where thepushing force can be imparted continuously toward the inner peripherysurface of the roving package 21, the heat-shrinkable film 22 may all beremoved beforehand from the roving package 21.

When the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 is drawn out up to near theoutermost winding layer of the roving package 21, the four collapsesuppressing rods 50 shift to positions indicated at P2 in FIG. 6 andsupport the inner surface of the roving package 21, so that it ispossible to suppress the collapse of winding layers and hence possibleto suppress entanglement of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2. Therefore,it is possible to effect switching to the new roving package spliced tothe reinforcing fiber bundle 2 while suppressing the occurrence ofbreaking of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 which is caused by theaforesaid entanglement in the pass line for conducting the reinforcingfiber bundle 2 to the impregnation die 7. Consequently, the manufactureof continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellets can be donecontinuously over a long time.

In this embodiment, instead of the plural collapse suppressing rods 50there may be used plural curved plates as the plural collapsesuppressing members. The curved plates each have an outer surface shapeconforming to the curved shape of the inner periphery surface of theroving package 21. Further, as pushing means for pushing the collapsesuppressing rods 50 there may be used air cylinders or electricdirect-acting actuators. The use of air cylinders or electricdirect-acting actuators is advantageous in that the pushing force can bemaintained constant over a period from a maximum wound state of thereinforcing fiber bundle 2 up to just before a drawn-out stage of thereinforcing fiber bundle 2 to near the outermost winding layer.

Next, a description will be given about examples related to the abovesecond embodiment. An experiment for manufacturing continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellets was conduced using the manufacturingapparatus shown in FIG. 5 and the reinforcing fiber bundle deliverydevice shown in FIGS. 6 to 10 was evaluated. Glass fiber bundles wereused as the reinforcing fiber bundles. The specification (configuration)of each glass fiber bundle is as follows, glass fiber dia. (filamentdia.) 17 μm, weight 2400 g/km. Even in the case of fiber bundle packagesusing glass fiber bundles of the same specification, there is adifference in the easiness of collapse occurrence of winding layers,depending on manufacturers, so there were used two kinds of fiber bundlepackages (fiber bundle packages G, H) of different manufacturers.Dimensions of each fiber bundle package are as follows, outside dia.: φ300 mm, inside dia.: φ 150 mm, height: 330 mm. In the fiber bundlepackages used, heat-shrinkable films covering both upper and lowersurfaces of the roving packages had been removed and the outer peripherysurfaces of the roving packages had been coated with heat-shrinkablefilms.

EXAMPLE 1

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions. Fiberbundle packages: 3 packages, manufacturing speed (withdrawing speed): 80m/min, thermoplastic resin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%,twisting angle θ1 of each twisting roller: 17.5°. As shown in FIG. 5,the three fiber bundle packages are each loaded to the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device. A total of three reinforcing fiber bundles drawnout respectively from the three fiber bundle packages are introducedinto the impregnation die through the pass line.

As a result, with respect to the fiber bundle package G, a total of tenfiber bundle package switching runs were conducted without occurrence ofbreaking. Also with respect to the fiber bundle package H, a total tenfiber bundle package switching runs were conducted without causingbreakage.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

There were adopted the same experimental conditions as in Example 1.There were used reinforcing fiber bundle delivery devices provided withneither collapse suppressing members nor pushing means. With respect tothe fiber bundle package G, a total of ten fiber bundle packageswitching runs were conducted, of which eight runs could be carried outwithout causing breakage. With respect to the fiber bundle package H, atotal of ten fiber bundle package switching runs were conducted, ofwhich only three runs could be carried out without causing breakage.

(Third Embodiment)

A further embodiment (third embodiment) related to the third inventionwill be described below while making reference to the drawings. FIG. 12is a diagram showing an entire configuration of a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatusaccording to the third embodiment.

In FIG. 12, the numeral 70 denotes a reinforcing fiber bundle deliverydevice to be described later. The continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment isprovided with three reinforcing fiber bundle delivery devices 70.

As shown in FIG. 12, three reinforcing fiber bundles 2 drawn out fromroving packages 61 (62) in the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery devices70 are arranged and conducted to a pre-heat heating device 5 providedwith a pair of heating rollers 6A and 6B. The reinforcing fiber bundles2 are heated by the pre-heat heating device 5 and are then conductedinto an impregnation die 7. Molten resin (molten thermoplastic resin) 3is fed to the impregnation die 7 continuously from an extruding machine10 having a built-in screw 11. In the interior of the impregnation die 7are disposed plural impregnation rollers 9 for impregnating thereinforcing fiber bundles 2 with the molten resin 3. A die nozzle 8 isattached to an exit of the impregnation die 7 to define the diameter ofa continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 of a circular sectionconstituted by twisted, resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles.

The molten resin is impregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundles 2passing through the impregnation die 7, affording resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundles. Twisting rollers 13A and 13B are disposed ona downstream side of the impregnation die 7 to twist theresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles. The twisting rollers 13Aand 13B function as a twisting device and a withdrawing device. Thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 constituted by the twisted,resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles is withdrawn continuouslyfrom the impregnation die 7 by the twisting rollers 13A and 13B.

The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 of a high temperaturedrawn out from the die nozzle 8 of the impregnation die 7 is cooled andhardened in a cooling water bath 12 and is conducted to the twistingrollers 13A and 13B. The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4conducted to a downstream side of the twisting rollers 13A and 13B iscut into a predetermined length by a pelletizer 14, affording acontinuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet.

As shown in the above FIG. 2, rotational axes of the pair of twistingrollers 13A and 13B are positioned on parallel planes (horizontalplanes) respectively so as to cross each other in a plan view as seen ina direction orthogonal to the planes. In this state the twisting rollers13A and 13B are disposed in opposition to each other so as to sandwichtherebetween the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand 4 fed from theupstream side. That is, in a plan view, the rotational axis, a, of thetwisting roller 13A as an upper roller in FIG. 2 and the rotational axisof the twisting roller 13B as a lower roller in the same figure areshifted in directions opposite to each other with respect to thewithdrawing direction of the continuous fiber-reinforced resin stand 4and by the same predetermined angle (a twisting angle θ1, see FIG. 3).

Next, a description will be given below about the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device 70.

FIG. 13 is a front view showing an entire configuration of thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to the thirdembodiment. FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing a principal portion ofthe reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shown in FIG. 13.

The reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to this embodimentis configured so that it can be loaded with two roving packages 61 and62. A terminal end of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 of a roving package(the roving package 61 in the example of FIG. 13) from which the fiberbundle is being taken out and a front end of the reinforcing fiberbundle 2 of a roving package (the roving package 62 in the example ofFIG. 13) from which the reinforcing fiber bundle is to be taken out nextare connected together (spliced together) beforehand by an operator withusing an air splicer or the like. That is, in the reinforcing fiberbundle delivery device 70, it is possible to adopt a method whereinafter exhaustion of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 of one roving package(the roving package 61 in the example of FIG. 13), the one rovingpackage is replaced with a new roving package and a terminal end of thereinforcing fiber bundle 2 of the other roving package (the rovingpackage 62 in FIG. 13) and a front end of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2of a new roving package are connected with each other. Therefore, whilerepeating interconnection of the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 of tworoving packages, the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 can be fed continuouslyover a long time and in an alternate manner from two roving packages.

According to the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70 in thisembodiment, the reinforcing fiber bundles 2 are taken out alternately bya non-rotation type outside withdrawing method from the two rovingpackages 61 and 62 which are held in a stand-up attitude. Thenon-rotation type outside withdrawing method is a method wherein thereinforcing fiber bundles are taken out (drawn out) from the outerperiphery sides of roving packages while placing the roving packages forexample in a stand-up attitude on a certain thing without rotationthereof.

As shown in FIG. 13, the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70 isprovided with roving package tables 100 on which two roving packages 61and 62 of a coreless cylinder shape are rested respectively and coreguides 90 erected on the roving package tables 100 respectively. Byplacing the roving packages 61 and 62 onto the roving package tables 100while inserting the core guides 90 inside the roving packages 61 and 62,the roving packages 61 and 62 are held on the roving package tables 100in an stand-up attitude with respective axes facing in the verticaldirection.

The reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70 is further provided witha reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80, the reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide 80 being disposed above the two roving packages 61and 62 and supporting an intermediate portion of the reinforcing fiberbundle 2 which is conducted from the roving packages 61 and 62 to theimpregnation die 7. A through hole for passing therethrough thereinforcing fiber bundle 2 is formed in the reinforcing fiber bundletake-out guide 80. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the reinforcingfiber bundle 2 taken out from the roving package 61 (62) is drawn out tothe inner side of the drawing through the reinforcing fiber bundletake-out guide 80.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the roving package tables 100 are eachprovided with a bottomed cylinder 102 having an inside diameter almostequal to that of the roving package 61 (62) and an annular table plate101 fixed to a doughnut-like upper end face of the bottomed cylinder 102and having an inside diameter almost equal to that of the roving package61 (62), with the roving package 61 (62) being rested on the table plate101. Three or four support legs 103 are attached to an underside of thetable plate 101. The roving package tables 100 are disposed on ahorizontal floor surface.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the core guides 90 each have an invertedcup-like body 91 with an outside diameter slightly smaller than theinside diameter of the roving package 61 (62). A front end of the body91 is tapered so as to permit easy insertion thereof into the rovingpackage 61 (62). For example, the body 91 is formed by a thin-walledsteel plate. A handle 92 is attached to an upper surface of the body 91.In the case of the body 91 formed of vinyl chloride, static electricityoccurred near the innermost winding layer although it is lightweight.

Next, the following description is provided about a take-out angle θ2 inthe reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70. FIG. 15 is a diagramfor explaining a take-out angle θ2 in the reinforcing fiber bundledelivery device shown in FIG. 13 and it is a plan view showing apositional relation between two roving packages and the reinforcingfiber bundle take-out guide. FIG. 16 is a front view of the rovingpackages in FIG. 15 each as seen in an arrow XVI direction.

In Y direction, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 15, the two rovingpackages 61 and 62 are disposed without positional deviation from eachother. As to the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80, in Ydirection, it is disposed at the same position as the roving packages 61and 62; in Z direction it is disposed above the two roving packages 61and 62 as shown in the front view of FIG. 13; and in X direction it isdisposed at a central position between the two roving packages 61 and 62as shown in the plan view of FIG. 15.

In the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70, in such a positionalrelation, at least one of the distances between the roving packages 61and 62 and the height of the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80is adjusted so as to satisfy the following condition. This condition isset as follows. When in a plan view a point of intersection between anextension line, the extension line being an extension of a straight lineconnecting the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80 and an axialpoint CP of each of the roving packages 61 and 62, and an outercircumference of each of the roving packages 61 and 62 is designated aremotest point P, (see FIG. 15), a take-out angle θ2 (see FIG. 16)between a reinforcing fiber bundle pass line PL, the pass line PLconnecting the remotest point P and the reinforcing fiber bundletake-out guide 80, and an axis CL of each of the roving packages 61 and62, is 45° or smaller, in a front view as seen in the direction XVIorthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial point CP and theremotest point P.

For example, given that an outside diameter of each of the rovingpackages 61 and 62 is φ 265 mm, the distance between the axes CL of theroving packages 61 and 62 is 800 mm, and the height of the reinforcingfiber bundle take-out guide 80 from the level of the table plate 101 is870 mm, in FIGS. 13 and 15, the take-out angle θ is about 44°. Theoutside diameter of each of the roving packages 61 and 62 becomessmaller in proportion to the amount of the reinforcing fiber bundle 2drawn out. The smaller the outside diameter becomes, the smaller thetake-out angle θ becomes. In this embodiment, therefore, if the take-outangle θ2 is set so as to become 45° or smaller for roving packages 61and 62 which have not been used yet, the take-out angle θ2 can bemaintained constantly at 45° or smaller irrespective of the outsidediameter of each of the roving packages 61 and 62.

FIG. 17 is another diagram for explaining a take-out angle in thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to the third invention,and also a plan view showing a layout position relation between tworoving packages and the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide. FIG. 18is a front view of the roving packages in FIG. 17 each as seen in anarrow XVIII direction.

As shown in the plan view of FIG. 17, the two roving packages 61 and 62are disposed without positional deviation from each other in Ydirection. On the other hand, as to the reinforcing fiber bundletake-out guide 80, in Z direction it is disposed above the two rovingpackages 61 and 62; in Y direction it is positionally deviated from theroving packages 61 and 62 as shown in the plan view of FIG. 17; and in Xdirection it is positionally deviated to the roving package 61 side withrespect to a central position between the two roving packages 61 and 62.

In the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70, in such a positionalrelation, at least one of the distance between the roving packages 61and 62 and the height of the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80is adjusted so as to satisfy the following condition, using rovingpackage position adjusting means or guide height adjusting means(neither shown). This condition is as follows. When in a plan view apoint of intersection between an extension line, the extension linebeing an extension of a straight line connecting the reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide 80 and an axial point CP of each of the rovingpackages 61 and 62, and an outer circumference of each of the rovingpackages 61 and 62 is designated a remotest point P, (see FIG. 17), atake-out angle θ2 (see FIG. 18) between a reinforcing fiber bundle passline PL, the pass line PL connecting the remotest point P and thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80, and an axis CL of each ofthe roving packages, is 45° or smaller, in a front view as seen in thedirection XVIII orthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial pointCP and the remotest point P. Since the roving packages used arespecified, if the take-out angle θ2 is initialized, then in the casewhere subsequent adjustment is not needed, the provision of the rovingpackage position adjusting means and the guide height adjusting meansmay be omitted. Further, the guide height adjusting means may bereplaced by roving package height adjusting means for adjusting aninstallment height of each roving package.

Thus, the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pelletmanufacturing apparatus of this embodiment is provided with thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70, and when taking outreinforcing fiber bundles R alternately from the two series-connectedroving packages 61 and 62, the take-out angle θ2 is set as follows. Thatis, in the case where in a plan view a point of intersection between anextension line, the extension line being an extension of a straight lineconnecting the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80 and the axialpoint CP of each of the roving packages 61 and 62, and an outercircumference of each of the roving packages 61 and 62 is designated aremotest point P, a take-out angle θ2 between a reinforcing fiber bundlepass line PL, the pass line PL connecting the remotest point P and thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80, and the axis CL of theroving package concerned is 45° or smaller in a front view as seen in adirection orthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial point CPand the remotest point P.

Accordingly, when taking out the reinforcing fiber bundle 2 from theouter periphery side of each of the roving package 61 and 62 by thenon-rotation type outside withdrawing method, the reinforcing fiberbundle 2 can be taken out smoothly from the outer periphery side of theroving package while suppressing engagement of the reinforcing fiberbundle 2 with the outer periphery edge portion on the upper end side ofthe roving package.

The take-out angle θ2 can be made smaller by disposing the reinforcingfiber bundle take-out guide 80 higher. However, a mere higherdisposition of the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80 willresult in an increase of the apparatus installing space. Moreover, thelarger the take-out angle θ2, the higher the tension developed in thereinforcing fiber bundle 2; besides, fluffing occurs in the reinforcingfiber bundle 2 at the remotest point P. Taking these points intoaccount, it is more preferable that the take-out angle θ2 be in therange of 20° to 34°.

The reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70 related to thisembodiment is provided with the core guides 90 inserted inside theroving packages 61 and 62 respectively to hold the roving packages 61and 62 in a stand-up attitude. Therefore, even when the reinforcingfiber bundle 2 is taken out up to near the innermost winding layers ofthe roving packages 61 and 62, resulting in thinning of the windinglayers, it is possible to suppress entanglement of the reinforcing fiberbundle. Thus, also as to the operation for switching to the next rovingpackage connected to one roving package, it can be done positivelywithout failure.

Therefore, according to the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment the reinforcingfiber bundle can be fed continuously over a long time to theimpregnation die without causing breakage of the reinforcing fiberbundle or failure in the roving package switching operation.Consequently, it is possible to improve the productivity of thecontinuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet.

FIG. 19 is a front view showing another entire configuration of areinforcing fiber bundle delivery device related to the third invention.This reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device is of the sameconfiguration as the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device shown inFIG. 13 except that inclination-forming plates 104 are added.

As shown in FIG. 19, this reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device,indicated at 70′, is provided with the inclination-forming plates 104added to roving package tables 100 respectively. The inclination-formingplates 104 are configured so that they can hold roving packages 61 and62 in an inclined state of, for example, 10° or so relative to theinstallation surface so as to allow their axes C1 to approach thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide 80 at positions above the rovingpackages 61 and 62. With this configuration, there accrues an advantagethat the height of the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70′ canbe made low.

Next, the following description is now provided about examples relatedto the above third embodiment. A continuous fiber-reinforced resinpellet manufacturing experiment was conducted using the manufacturingapparatus shown in FIG. 12 and provided with three reinforcing fiberbundle delivery devices, and the reinforcing fiber bundle deliverydevice shown in FIGS. 13 to 16 was evaluated. Glass fiber bundles wereused as the reinforcing fiber bundles. The specification (configuration)of each glass fiber bundle is as follows, glass fiber dia. (filamentdia.) 17 μm, weight 2400 g/km. Dimensions of each roving package are asfollows, outside dia.: φ 280 mm, inside dia.: φ 150 mm, height: 330 mm.

EXAMPLE 1

The following conditions were adopted as experimental conditions.Reinforcing fiber bundle delivery devices: 3 devices, take-out angle θ2:45°, 34°, manufacturing speed (withdrawing speed): 80 m/min,thermoplastic resin: polypropylene, fiber content: about 70%, twistingangle θ1 of each twisting roller: 17.5°.

Switching of roving packages was performed ten times. As a result, inboth the case of the take-out angle θ2 being 45° and the case of itbeing 34°, there occurred no entanglement of the glass fiber bundle evenwhen the glass fiber bundle was taken out up to near the innermostwinding layer of each roving package, and the switching could be donewithout failure in all of the ten runs. In case of the take-out angle θ2being 45°, the taken-out glass fiber bundle was rubbed against the outerperiphery edge portion on the upper end side of the roving package andthe glass fiber was fluffed slightly. On the other hand, in the case ofthe take-out angle θ2 being 34°, the glass fiber bundle could be takenout smoothly without fluffing.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

A manufacturing experiment was performed under the same conditions as inExample 1 except that the core guide was not mounted. As a result, inboth the cases of 45° and 34° as take-out angles θ2, there occurredentanglement of the glass fiber bundle near the innermost winding layerof each roving package and the roving package switching operation failedin all of the ten runs.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

A manufacturing experiment was performed under the same conditions as inExample 1 except that the take-out angle θ2 was set at 47°. As a result,the glass fiber bundle to be taken out was caught on the outer peripheryedge portion on the upper end side of the roving package.

Although the above first to third embodiments have been described asseparate embodiments, these embodiments may be combined together.

More specifically, for the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet manufacturing apparatus of the first embodiment there maybe adopted the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 30 related tothe second embodiment or the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device 70related to the third embodiment.

In the concrete embodiments described above there are mainly includedthe first to third inventions having the following configurations.

The first invention provides a method for manufacturing a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising the steps ofdrawing out a reinforcing fiber bundle of a large number of reinforcingfilaments continuously from a roving package, introducing thereinforcing fiber bundle thus drawn out from the roving package into animpregnation die continuously, impregnating the thus-introducedreinforcing fiber bundle with molten thermoplastic resin to produce aresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, twisting theresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle that is passing continuouslythrough the impregnation die by a twisting device disposed on adownstream side of the impregnation die to produce a continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand, and cutting the continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand to produce a pellet while withdrawing thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand continuously, wherein the stepof drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuously from the rovingpackage includes an operation of splicing the reinforcing fiber bundlefed from a roving package being exhausted and the reinforcing fiberbundle fed from a new roving package with each other, the reinforcingfiber bundle splicing operation being carried out in such a manner that,with respect to each of a terminal end portion of the reinforcing fiberbundle from the roving package being exhausted and a start end portionof the reinforcing fiber bundle from the new roving package, a part in asectional direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of thereinforcing fiber bundle concerned is removed over a predetermined rangein the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing fiber bundle to form afiber quantity-halved end portion where the quantity of fibers in thesection of the reinforcing fiber bundle is about half of the originalfiber quantity, further, the reinforcing filaments in the fiberquantity-halved end portion of the roving package being exhausted andthe reinforcing filaments in the fiber quantity-halved end portion ofthe new roving package are entangled with each other at one or morepositions in their longitudinal direction by means of an air splicer,and in a fiber quantity unreduced end portion which is an upstreamportion relative to the fiber quantity-halved end portion in thereinforcing fiber bundle of the new roving package and in which the partin the sectional direction remains unremoved, the reinforcing filamentsare entangled with each other at one or more positions in theirlongitudinal direction by means of an air splicer.

By “air splicer” as referred to herein is meant a device for performingan entangling work as is disclosed, for example, in Japanese PatentLaid-Open Publication No. Sho 51 (1976)-19843. By “entangling work” ismeant to impart entanglement to filaments by utilizing a turbulent flowof fluid.

According to this first invention it is possible to solve the followingconventional problems.

The continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet (hereinafteralso referred to simply as “continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet”)is used as a raw material for injection molding. The continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet is superior in mechanical strength to ashort fiber-reinforced resin pellet because its pellet length (forexample, 3˜10 mm or so) corresponds as it is to the fiber length.

For manufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet there isused a roving package constituted by a winding of a reinforcing fiberbundle (roving) of a large number of reinforcing filaments. Bothpultruding method not involving twisting and pultruding method involvingtwisting are known as continuous fiber-reinforced resin pelletmanufacturing methods.

In the pultruding method not involving twisting, first a reinforcingfiber bundle drawn out from a roving package is introduced continuouslyinto an impregnation die. In the impregnation die, molten thermoplasticresin is impregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundle. A continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand constituted by the resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundle is withdrawn continuously from the impregnationdie and is cut into a predetermined length to form a continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet. FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showingthe continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet obtained by the pultrudingmethod not involving twisting.

In the pultruding method involving twisting, first a reinforcing fiberbundle drawn out from a roving package is introduced continuously intoan impregnation die. In the impregnation die, molten thermoplastic resinis impregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundle. With a twisting devicesuch as twisting rollers or the like disposed on a downstream side ofthe impregnation die, the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundlewhich is passing continuously through the impregnation die is twisted.The continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand constituted by the thustwisted, resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle is withdrawncontinuously from the impregnation die and is cut into a predeterminedlength, affording a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet. FIG. 20 isa schematic diagram showing the continuous fiber-reinforced resin pelletobtained by the pultruding method involving twisting.

In case of manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet withuse of a reinforcing fiber bundle drawn out continuously from a rovingpackage, it is necessary that the reinforcing fiber bundle of a rovingpackage being exhausted and the reinforcing fiber bundle of a new rovingpackage be spliced to permit a continuous supply of the reinforcingfiber bundle over a long time.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6 (1994)-114832 isdisclosed a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet manufacturingmethod using the above pultruding method not involving twisting.According to the manufacturing method disclosed therein, a terminal endportion of a reinforcing fiber bundle of a roving package beingexhausted and a start end portion of a reinforcing fiber bundle of a newroving package are superimposed one on the other and thethus-superimposed portions are entangled with each other by an airsplicer. In this way the reinforcing fiber bundle of the roving packagebeing exhausted and the reinforcing fiber bundle of the new rovingpackage are spliced together (the first related art).

However, in the first related art described above, the fiber quantity inthe spliced portion (seam) between the reinforcing fiber bundle of theroving package being exhausted and the reinforcing fiber bundle of thenew roving package becomes twice that of each reinforcing fiber bundle.That is, the thickness of the spliced portion becomes larger than theoriginal reinforcing fiber bundle thickness. Consequently, in case ofmanufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet having a fibercontent of about 30% or more, there arises the problem that a splicedportion is apt to be caught in the die nozzle of the impregnation die,causing clogging of the die nozzle, and that breaking of the reinforcingfiber bundle is apt to occur at a high manufacturing speed.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-301340 is disclosed amethod for splicing fiber bundles with each other (the second relatedart). The fiber bundles are each constituted by a bundle of a largenumber of filaments. FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram for explaining thesecond related art.

The second related art method will now be described. As shown in FIG. 7,one fiber bundle X1 and another fiber bundle X2 are joined in a mutuallysuperimposed manner and thereafter the fiber bundle X1 is halved to forma yarn Y1′ and a yarn Y1. Likewise, the fiber bundle X2 is halved toform a yarn Y2 and a yarn Y2′. Then, the yarns Y1′ and Y2 are put one onthe other and so are the yarns Y1 and Y2′. The yarns Y1′ and Y2 areentangled with each other by an air splicer to form an entangled portionZ1. Likewise, the yarns Y1 and Y2′ are entangled with each other to forman entangled portion Z2. In this case, the entangled portions Z1 and Z2are formed at different positions in the longitudinal direction of thefiber bundles.

However, in the second related art described above, the fiber quantityin (Z1+Y1) portion consisting of the entangled portion Z1 and the yarnY1 becomes 1.5 times that of the fiber bundle X1 and thus the thicknessthereof becomes larger than the original thickness of the fiber bundleX1. Likewise, the fiber quantity in (Z2+Y2) portion consisting of theentangled portion Z2 and the yarn Y2 becomes 1.5 times that of the fiberbundle X2 and thus the thickness thereof becomes larger than theoriginal thickness of the fiber bundle X2. Therefore, in case ofmanufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet having a highfiber content with use of the reinforcing fiber bundles thus spliced bythe second related art, there is the problem that the spliced portionhaving the (Z1+Y1) portion and the (Z2+Y2) portion is caught in the dienozzle of the impregnation die and thus the die is apt to be clogged.

Accordingly, it is an object of the first invention to provide a methodfor manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resinpellet which method, in manufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet by a pultruding method involving twisting areinforcing fiber bundle drawn out continuously from a roving package,can cause a spliced portion between the reinforcing fiber bundle of aroving package being exhausted and the reinforcing fiber bundle of a newroving package to pass through a die nozzle of an impregnation die at ahigh manufacturing speed without causing breakage or the like of thereinforcing fiber bundles.

According to the manufacturing method related to the above firstinvention, in case of manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet by the pultruding method which twistsreinforcing fiber bundles drawn out continuously from roving packages,the reinforcing fiber bundles can be spliced with each other whilesuppressing an increase in thickness of the spliced portion beyond theoriginal thickness of each of the reinforcing fiber bundles, byentangling fiber quantity-halved end portions of the reinforcing fiberbundles which end portions each have a fiber quantity about half of theoriginal fiber quantity. Therefore, the reinforcing fiber bundles can bepassed through the die nozzle of the impregnation die at a highmanufacturing speed without breaking of the reinforcing fiber bundlescaused by incapability of passing through the die nozzle or withoutclogging of the die nozzle caused by fluffs which the clogging becomes acause stopping the production after passing through the die nozzle. As aresult, it is possible to improve the productivity of the continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet.

In the above splicing operation performed in the above continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing method it ispreferable that an adhesive of the same resin as the thermoplastic resinimpregnated into the reinforcing fiber bundles be further applied to theentangled portion of the reinforcing filaments entangled by the airsplicer.

By so doing it is possible to splice the reinforcing fiber bundles morestrongly with each other.

The step of drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuously fromeach of the roving packages in the above continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing method includes an operation ofdrawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle in a successive manner from theinner periphery side of the roving package. In connection with thisdrawing-out operation it is preferable that plural collapse suppressingmembers pushed radially outwards against the inner periphery surface ofthe roving package be allowed to shift following the inner peripherysurface of the roving package which shifts radially outwards graduallyas the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out, to suppress collapse ofthe reinforcing fiber bundle of the roving package.

By so doing, even when the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out to nearthe outermost winding layer of the roving package, it is possible tosuppress collapse of the winding layer and hence possible to suppressentanglement of the reinforcing fiber bundle in a collapsed windinglayer. Thus, since it is possible to suppress breaking of thereinforcing fiber bundle caused by the entanglement, it is also possibleto effect positive switching to a new roving package spliced to thereinforcing fiber bundle in question. In this way continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellets can be manufacturedcontinuously over a long time.

The step of drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuously fromthe roving package in the above continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing method includes an operation oftaking out the reinforcing fiber bundle from the outer periphery side ofeach of plural spliced roving packages through a reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide disposed above the roving packages, withoutcausing rotation of the roving packages and while holding the rovingpackages in an stand-up attitude with the axes thereof facing in thevertical direction. Preferably, in connection with this taking-outoperation, the reinforcing fiber bundle is taken out under followingconditions. If in a plan view a point of intersection between anextension line of a straight line, the straight line connecting thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide and an axial point of each ofthe roving packages, and an outer circumference of the roving package isassumed to be a remotest point, then in a front view as seen in adirection orthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial point andthe remotest point, a take-out angle between a reinforcing fiber bundlepass line, the pass line extending from the remotest point to thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide, and an axis of the rovingpackage concerned is always 45° or less irrespective of the diameter ofthe outer circumference of the roving package.

By so doing, the reinforcing fiber bundle take-out angle is setconstantly at 45° or less irrespective of the outer circumferencediameter of the roving package, so at the time of taking out thereinforcing fiber bundle from the outer periphery side of each rovingpackage without causing rotation of the roving package, the reinforcingfiber bundle can be taken out smoothly from the outer periphery side ofthe roving package without the reinforcing fiber bundle being caught onthe outer periphery edge portion on the upper end side of the rovingpackage.

Moreover, in the above method, the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn outfrom each roving package while holding the roving package in a stand-upattitude, so even when the reinforcing fiber bundle has been taken outup to near the innermost winding layer of the roving package, resultingin the winding layer thickness becoming smaller, it is possible tosuppress entanglement of the reinforcing fiber bundle in the windinglayer. Thus, it is possible to positively carry out switching to thenext roving package connected to the roving package in question.

In the step of drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuouslyfrom the roving package in the above continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet manufacturing method, preferably, two suchroving packages are disposed at all times and are connected together,further, after the reinforcing fiber bundle of one of the two rovingpackages has been exhausted, the one roving package is replaced with anew roving package, and a terminal end of the other roving package and afront end of the new roving package are connected with each other.

By so doing, the reinforcing fiber bundle can be taken out alternatelyfrom two roving packages while repeating the connection between thereinforcing fiber bundles of the two roving packages.

The second invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing acontinuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising aroving package constituted by a cylindrical package of a reinforcingfiber bundle, a reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device for drawing outthe reinforcing fiber bundle in a successive manner from an innerperiphery side of the roving package, an impregnation die forimpregnating the reinforcing fiber bundle with molten thermoplasticresin to produce a resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, thereinforcing fiber bundle being introduced into the impregnation dieafter being drawn out continuously from the roving package by thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device, a withdrawing device disposedon a downstream side of the impregnation die to withdraw a continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand of the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiberbundle continuously from the impregnation die, and a cutter member forcutting the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand, wherein thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device includes a plurality ofcollapse suppressing members adapted to be pushed radially outwardsagainst an inner periphery surface of the roving package to suppresscollapse of winding layers and pushing means for displacing the pluralcollapse suppressing members radially outwards following the innerperiphery surface of the roving package which inner periphery surfaceshifts radially outwards gradually as the reinforcing fiber bundle isdrawn out in a successive manner.

The “continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet” to bemanufactured by the manufacturing apparatus of the second inventionincludes both a twisted such pellet and an untwisted such pellet.

According to this second invention it is possible to solve the followingconventional problems.

The continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet (hereinafterreferred also simply as “continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet”) isused as a raw material for injection molding. The continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet is superior in mechanical strength to ashort fiber-reinforced resin pellet because its pellet length (forexample, 3˜10 mm or so) corresponds as it is to the fiber length.

For manufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet there isused a fiber bundle package. As shown in FIG. 11, the fiber bundlepackage 20 corresponds to a packaged cylindrical roving package 21 ofthe reinforcing fiber bundle (roving), an outer surface of the rovingpackage 21 being coated with a packaging heat-shrinkable film 22. Thereinforcing fiber bundle is in the shape of a flat string formed byjoining a predetermined number of strands without twisting, the strandseach being a bundle of a large number of filaments. The reinforcingfiber bundle is drawn out from the roving package of the fiber bundlepackage 20 by the inside withdrawing method. That is, the reinforcingfiber bundle is drawn out upwards from the inner periphery side of theroving package 21 which is in a stand-up attitude through an opening ofthe heat-shrinkable film 22.

The continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet is manufactured by apultruding method. Both pultruding method not involving twisting andpultruding method involving twisting are known. In the pelletmanufacturing method using the pultruding method not involving twisting,first the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out continuously from eachfiber bundle package and is introduced into an impregnation die. In theimpregnation die, the reinforcing fiber bundle is impregnated withmolten thermoplastic resin. A continuous fiber-reinforced resin strandconstituted by the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle iswithdrawn continuously from the impregnation die by a withdrawing devicedisposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die. Then, thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand is cut into a predeterminedlength by a pelletizer or the like to produce a continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet. FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showingthe continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet obtained by the pultrudingmethod not involving twisting.

In the pellet manufacturing method using the pultruding method involvingtwisting, first the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out continuouslyfrom each fiber bundle package for inside withdrawal and is introducedinto an impregnation die. In the impregnation die, the reinforcing fiberbundle is impregnated with molten thermoplastic resin. The reinforcingfiber bundle which has passed through the impregnation die is twistedand a continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand constituted by thethus-twisted resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle is withdrawncontinuously from the impregnation die by a withdrawing device disposedon a downstream side of the impregnation die. Then, the continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand is cut into a predetermined length by apelletizer or the like to afford a continuous fiber-reinforced resinpellet. In this case, as the withdrawing device there is used one whichfunctions also as a twisting device such as twisting rollers. FIG. 20 isa schematic diagram showing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pelletobtained by the pultruding method involving twisting.

In case of manufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet while drawing out the reinforcing fiber bundle continuouslyfrom each fiber bundle package, the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawnout in a successive manner from the inner periphery side of the rovingpackage concerned. Therefore, the thickness of the roving packagebecomes smaller gradually as the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out.When the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out up to near the outermostwinding layer of the roving package, collapse of the winding layer hassometimes occurred heretofore with consequent entanglement of thereinforcing fiber bundle in the collapsed winding layer. As a result,breaking of the reinforcing fiber bundle occurs due to the entanglementand it is impossible to make switching to a new fiber bundle package forinside withdrawal spliced to the reinforcing fiber bundle concerned.

With a view to preventing the aforesaid winding layer collapsingphenomenon, a glass roving package is proposed in Japanese PatentLaid-Open Publication No. 2001-88881. In this glass roving package, anouter surface of a glass fiber bundle package as a cylindrical packageof a glass roving is coated with a bag-like heat-shrinkable film. Theheat-shrinkable film is formed from a polypropylene resin composition ora polyethylene terephthalate resin composition. With this glass rovingpackage, the occurrence of the foregoing collapse phenomenon issuppressed because a kinetic friction coefficient of the heat-shrinkablefilm is 0.1 to 0.7.

However, the aforesaid glass roving package has not always beenconsidered satisfactory in point of surely preventing the abovecollapsing phenomenon.

Accordingly, it is an object of the second invention to provide anapparatus for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet which, even when a reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out upto near the outermost winding layer of a roving package, can suppresscollapse of the winding layer and draw out the reinforcing fiber bundlesmoothly to the last without entanglement of the reinforcing fiberbundle in the winding layer, thereby making it possible to effectswitching to a new fiber bundle package spliced to the drawn-outreinforcing fiber bundle while suppressing breakage of the reinforcingfiber bundle caused by the entanglement.

According to the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pelletmanufacturing apparatus related to the second invention, even when thereinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out to near the outermost windinglayer of the roving package, it is possible to prevent collapse of thewinding layer and thereby suppress entanglement of the reinforcing fiberbundle in the winding layer. Consequently, it is possible to makeswitching to the new roving package spliced to the drawn-out reinforcingfiber bundle while suppressing the occurrence of breaking of thereinforcing fiber bundle caused by the aforesaid entanglement and hencepossible to carry out the manufacture of the continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet continuously over a long time.

Preferably, in the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resinpellet manufacturing apparatus, the pushing means is provided with asupport pillar disposed inside the roving package and on the axis of theroving package and links each pinned to the support pillar pivotablyabout an axis orthogonal to the axis of the roving package, further, thecollapse suppressing members are provided with collapse suppressing rodscapable of coming into abutment against the inner side face of theroving package throughout the overall length in the axial direction, anda link mechanism for moving each of the collapse suppressing rods inparallel with the support pillar is constructed by the pushing means andthe collapse suppressing members.

By so doing, the collapse suppressing rods can be brought into abutmentagainst the inner side face of the roving package while maintaining theattitude of the collapse suppressing rods in parallel with the axis ofthe roving package by means of the link mechanism composed of bothpushing means and collapse suppressing member. Thus, collapse of windinglayers can be suppressed effectively by the collapse suppressing rods.

The third invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising a plurality ofroving packages each constituted by a cylindrical package of areinforcing fiber bundle, a reinforcing fiber bundle delivery deviceconfigured to deliver the reinforcing fiber bundle in a successivemanner from each of the roving packages without causing rotation of eachof the roving packages, a terminal end of the reinforcing fiber bundlein one roving package and a front end of the reinforcing fiber bundle inanother roving package which reinforcing fiber bundle is to be nexttaken out being connected with each other in series, an impregnation diefor impregnating the reinforcing fiber bundle with molten thermoplasticresin to produce a resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, thereinforcing fiber bundle being introduced into the impregnation dieafter being drawn out continuously from the roving packages by thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device, a withdrawing device disposedon a downstream side of the impregnation die to withdraw a continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand of the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiberbundle continuously from the impregnation die, and a cutter member forcutting the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand, wherein thereinforcing fiber bundle delivery device includes a core guide forholding each of the roving packages in a stand-up attitude with the axisof each roving packages facing in a vertical direction and a reinforcingfiber bundle take-out guide disposed above the roving packages andadapted to support an intermediate portion of the reinforcing fiberbundle being conducted from the roving package to the impregnation die,and wherein if in a plan view a point of intersection between anextension line of a straight line, the straight line connecting thereinforcing fiber bundle take-out guide and an axial point of the rovingpackage, and an outer circumference of the roving package is assumed tobe a remotest point, then in a front view as seen in a directionorthogonal to a vertical plane including the axial point and theremotest point, each of the roving packages and the reinforcing fiberbundle take-out guide are disposed in such a manner that a take-outangle between a reinforcing fiber bundle pass line extending from theremotest point to the reinforcing fiber take-out guide and an axis ofthe roving package concerned is always not larger than 45° irrespectiveof the diameter of the outer circumference of the roving package.

The “continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet” to bemanufactured by the manufacturing apparatus of the third inventionincludes both a twisted such pellet and an untwisted such pellet.

According to this third invention it is possible to solve the followingconventional problem.

The continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet (hereinafterreferred also simply as “continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet”) isused as a raw material for injection molding. The continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet is superior in mechanical strength to ashort fiber-reinforced resin pellet because its pellet length (forexample, 3˜10 mm or so) corresponds as it is to the fiber length.

For manufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet there isused a roving package in the shape of a coreless cylinder constituted bya winding of a reinforcing fiber bundle (roving). The reinforcing fiberbundle is in the shape of a flat string formed by joining apredetermined number of strands without twisting, the strands each beinga bundle of a large number of filaments.

The continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet is manufactured by apultruding method. Both pultruding method not involving twisting andpultruding method involving twisting are known. In the pelletmanufacturing method using the pultruding method not involving twisting,first the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out continuously from eachroving package and is introduced into an impregnation die. In theimpregnation die, the reinforcing fiber bundle is impregnated withmolten thermoplastic resin. A continuous fiber-reinforced resin strandconstituted by the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle iswithdrawn continuously from the impregnation die by a withdrawing devicedisposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die. Then, thecontinuous fiber-reinforced resin strand is cut into a predeterminedlength by a pelletizer or the like to produce a continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet. FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showingthe continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet obtained by the pultrudingmethod not involving twisting.

In the pellet manufacturing method using the pultruding method involvingtwisting, first the reinforcing fiber bundle is drawn out continuouslyfrom each of the roving packages and is introduced into an impregnationdie. In the impregnation die, the reinforcing fiber bundle isimpregnated with molten thermoplastic resin. With a withdrawing devicedisposed on a downstream side of the impregnation die, a continuousfiber-reinforced resin strand of a twisted, resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundle is withdrawn continuously from the impregnationdie. Then, the continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand is cut into apredetermined length by a pelletizer or the like to afford a continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet. In this case, as the withdrawing devicethere is used one which functions also as a twisting device such astwisting rollers. FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing a continuousfiber-reinforced resin pellet obtained by the pultruding methodinvolving twisting.

In case of manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet withuse of a reinforcing fiber bundle taken out from a roving package, it isnecessary to take a certain measure so that the reinforcing fiber bundlecan be supplied continuously over a long time. Accordingly, end portionsof reinforcing fiber bundles from plural roving packages are connectedbeforehand in a successive manner so as to give a single connection ofthe reinforcing fiber bundles and the reinforcing fiber bundle is takenout continuously in a successive manner from plural roving packages thusconnected in series.

As methods for taking out (drawing out) the reinforcing fiber bundlefrom each roving package there are known (1) an outside withdrawingmethod, (2) an inside withdrawing method, and (3) a non-rotation typeoutside withdrawing method. The outside withdrawing method is a methodof taking out (drawing out) the reinforcing fiber bundle from the outerperiphery side of each roving package while rotating the roving packageitself. The inside withdrawing method is a method of taking out (drawingout) the reinforcing fiber bundle from the inner periphery side of eachroving package without causing rotation of the roving package itself,for example in a state in which the roving package is placed in astand-up attitude on a certain thing. The non-rotation type outsidewithdrawing method is a method of taking out (drawing out) thereinforcing fiber bundle from the outer periphery side of each rovingpackage without causing rotation of the roving package itself, forexample in a state in which the roving package is placed in a stand-upattitude on a certain thing.

In manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced resin pellet with use ofthe reinforcing fiber bundle taken out successively from a plurality ofinterconnected roving packages, the above inside withdrawing method hasheretofore been adopted widely (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-OpenPublication No. Hei 7 (1995)-205317). There are few examples adoptingthe above non-rotation type outside withdrawing method. Heretofore, noconsideration has been given to the advantage that the adoption of thenon-rotation type outside withdrawing method permits a simpleconfiguration of the reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device for takingout the reinforcing fiber bundle from each roving package in comparisonwith the case adopting the inside withdrawing mathod.

Accordingly, it is an object of the third invention to provide anapparatus for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplasticresin pellet which, when taking out a reinforcing fiber bundlecontinuously in a successive manner from a plurality of roving packagesconnected in series, by adopting the non-rotation type outsidewithdrawing method, to afford a continuous fiber-reinforcedthermoplastic resin pellet, can take out the reinforcing fiber bundlesmoothly from an outer periphery side of each roving package whilesuppressing engagement of the reinforcing fiber bundle with an outerperiphery edge portion on an upper end side of each roving package andwhich, even when the reinforcing fiber bundle has been taken out up tonear the innermost winding layer in the roving package being exhausted,can suppress entanglement of the reinforcing fiber package and canpositively carry out switching to the next roving package connected tothe roving package being exhausted.

According to the third invention, the reinforcing fiber bundle take-outangle is set always at 45° or less irrespective of the diameter of theouter circumference of each roving package, so when taking out thereinforcing fiber bundle from the outer periphery side of the rovingpackage by the non-rotation type outside withdrawing method, there is nofear of the reinforcing fiber bundle being caught on the outer peripheryedge portion on the upper end side of the roving package and it ispossible to take out the reinforcing fiber bundle smoothly from theouter periphery side of the roving package.

In the manufacturing apparatus of the third invention, the reinforcingfiber bundle is drawn out from each roving package while holding theroving package in a stand-up attitude, so even when the reinforcingfiber bundle has been taken out up to near the innermost winding layerof the roving package and the winding layer becomes thin, it is possibleto prevent entanglement of the reinforcing fiber bundle in the windinglayer. Consequently, it is possible to positively effect switching tothe next roving package connected to the roving package being exhausted.

Thus, according to the manufacturing apparatus of the third inventionthe reinforcing fiber bundle can be fed to the impregnation diecontinuously over a long time while suppressing breaking of thereinforcing fiber bundle and suppressing failure in switching from oneto another roving package, so that the productivity of the continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet can be improved.

In the above continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pelletmanufacturing apparatus it is preferable that the core guide beconfigured so as to be able to hold two such roving packages asdescribed above.

By so doing it is possible to adopt a method wherein after thereinforcing fiber bundle has been exhausted on one of two rovingpackages held by the core guide, the one roving package is replaced witha new roving package, and a terminal end of the other roving package anda front end of the new roving package are connected together.Consequently, the reinforcing fiber bundle can be taken out alternatelyfrom two roving packages while repeating connection of the reinforcingfiber bundles of the two roving packages.

[Industrial Applicability]

According to the present invention it is possible to smoothly carry outa continuous drawing-out work for the reinforcing fiber bundle(continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand).

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for manufacturing a continuousfiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet, comprising: a rovingpackage constituted by a cylindrical package of a reinforcing fiberbundle; a reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device for drawing out thereinforcing fiber bundle in a successive manner from an inner peripheryside of said roving package; an impregnation die for impregnating thereinforcing fiber bundle with molten thermoplastic resin to produce aresin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundle, the reinforcing fiber bundlebeing introduced into said impregnation die after being drawn outcontinuously from said roving package by said reinforcing fiber bundledelivery device; a withdrawing device disposed on a downstream side ofsaid impregnation die including a gripping surface to grip and withdrawa continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand of the resin-impregnatedreinforcing fiber bundle continuously from said impregnation die; and acutter member for cutting said continuous fiber-reinforced resin strand,wherein said reinforcing fiber bundle delivery device includes aplurality of collapse suppressing members adapted to be pushed radiallyoutwards against an inner periphery surface of said roving package tosuppress collapse of winding layers and pushing means for displacingsaid plural collapse suppressing members radially outwards following theinner periphery surface of said roving package which inner peripherysurface shifts radially outwards gradually as the reinforcing fiberbundle is drawn out in a successive manner.
 2. The apparatus formanufacturing the continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pelletaccording to claim 1, wherein: said pushing means includes a supportpillar, said support pillar being disposed inside said roving packageand on an axis of said roving package, and links pinned to said supportpillar so as to be pivotable about an axis orthogonal to the axis ofsaid roving package, said collapse suppressing members include collapsesuppressing rods capable of coming into abutment against an inner sideface of said roving package throughout the overall length in the axialdirection, and a link mechanism for moving said collapse suppressingrods while maintaining said support rods in parallel with said supportpillar, wherein said link mechanism is constructed by said pushing meansand said collapse suppressing members.
 3. An apparatus for manufacturinga continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin pellet according toclaim 1, wherein said plurlity of collapse suppressing members are eachelongated and oriented such that the direction of elongation is parallelto the inner periphery surface of said roving package, wherein theplurality of collapse suppressing members are mounted so as to maintainsaid parallel orientation while the plurality of collapse suppressingmembers are being displaced radially outwards following the innerperiphery surface of said roving package.